Gardens at home

My sister, Jenny and I have been hard at work getting the gardens ready this year.  We had plants to divide and some plants to move transplant in other areas.  She grew seedlings of Tropical Milkweed for them that needed homes.  And, of course, we bought more plants to add into the landscape. Honestly, it's like a disease when we go to a plant store.  We never get out without buying something. Here's how they look today.

Back side garden

Back side garden - neighbor's view

Center back garden

Front side garden

Front garden by porch.

My Yard

Front & Side front gardens

Back yard gardens looking NE

Garden along the back

My yard gives me great pleasure over the year even though the gardens can be s fair amount of work.  I love the end of the summer and fall as all of the flowers are in full bloom and draw in the hummingbirds and butterflies.  Sadly, this has been a slow year for the butterflies.  I have had less than 20 species so far with a Red-spotted Purple coming to the party 2 days ago.  I have lots of Monarchs who having been laying good numbers of eggs.  I have seen about 20 Monarch chrysalis and some have enclosed.  One Monarch was born and his wings couldn't expand - very sad.  I have seen some Black Swallowtails but for some reason even with lots of parsley there are few eggs or caterpillars.  I see Ruby-throated Hummingbirds on a daily basis and sometimes there are 3-4 chasing each other.  It's strange but they don't feed off my feeders at all and only go to the nectar plants of which there are plenty for them.

Red-spotted Purple

Ruby-throated Hummingbird

Front yard Gardens

I have been working on new gardens in the front yard along with help from my sister, Jenny.  I had 20 yards of terragro delivered in April which my 2 sisters and I spread out into a larger area of about 8" deep which tapers down to the lawn.  Since that time we have been adding plants, a fountain to provide water for the birds, and a branch to add a resting place for the birds plus it also adds texture to the gardens.

The front yard gardens also include a hummingbird feeder and a tray of rotten fruit for the butterflies to use for feeding.